Kimputer's Weblog

A typical indie release, focusing on a small family, where the drama unfolds. Main attraction is of course Sigourney Weaver, but the rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either. Dark themes seem to be the motive throughout the movie, and while you feel the pressing matters, it’s hard to identify and feel along. Besides that, you have some four minds to keep track of, while there’s no real story to guide you from the beginning to the end. Only in the end you can feel some satisfaction, but it’s not enough to make you feel good about this movie.6½.

Over the years, some specific questions keep popping up, and sometimes they keep having the same answer. Like, Betamax or VHS ? Should I get internet ? How about DVD, when is it time to get a player ?
The answer usually depends on one thing (for the guys at least). Porn. And as a result, all of those mentioned above went on the be a huge success.
That’s what’s Sony is thinking right now. They have the Playstation Portable out. With it comes a new media format, a small disc called UMD (Universal Media Disc). And for it to succeed, what do you need ? Right. Porn. So, Sony just licensed a bunch of those, porn movies with their logo in it. And since porn usually pushes the envelope a bit further, they’ll also have the first region free UMD’s out next month.
You game ?

Rate 1 (sucks) to 5 (cool). Only rate the latest pictures, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 745 out of 231 votes > Average is: 3.225

It’s even tidy under the table. Eh ? Eh ?

So, we have a bomb at the US box office, coupled with a seemingly exciting trailer. A perfect case to check for trailer sickness. Could this be one of those undiscovered gems, or is it the ever existent illness this movie deserves.
Well, while the movie’s tagline says “Out of the ashes, hope will rise”, the truth is somewhat different. It’s just a smoking pile of rubbish. Nothing rises from it, I can assure you.
From the first five minutes of the movie you can find out many things. Acting is not important. Dialogue is not important. Characters are not important. A couple of more minutes, and you see two writers cramming every cliche available in the two long hours. It feels like a contest, and a small notepad to keep track of them would not suffice. In the end, all you can do is laugh along with this total failure.
The trailer suggested some action here and there, but predictably, the exact amount in the trailer is in the movie. Nothing more, nothing less. With nothing on the screen to focus on, the final mistake is a hard one to swallow. The only female in the movie is the highly unattractive Miranda Otto, and for that, dropping the producers in the middle of the Sahara with no food and water would be the only fitting punishment.3-.

You know the guy. With the cool sunglasses. Remember ? The red pill/blue pill dude. Remember ?
Well, he almost died in The Matrix. Remember ? He also almost died in The Matrix Reloaded. And he most certainly almost died in The Matrix Revolutions too. But now, with most people not paying attention, he’s really dead.
How can, you might be asking yourself ? Well, the story continues in another paid format. The Matrix Online, the MMORPG game, is still a product of the Wachowski brothers, and with the cooperation of Monolith Productions, everything that happens online is to be considered canon. And then it happened last week. He got brutally killed.
Sadly, I have to hear about this from third or even fourth hand, as the game comes along with a monthly subscription fee that’s almost worth a full ADSL internet connection (plus, I don’t flip out my credit card very often, as I have none). Then again, who needs to, I’ve had all the Counter-Striking fun I need without ever paying a dime.
Well, say hi to Neo for me, Morph.

In a zoo far far away, it’s animal power at the box office as Madagascar takes over the reigns from Star Wars. Last week’s number two ups one with $28.7 million. The Longest Yard does the same trick, ending up at number 2 with $26.1 million.
Third is Star Wars, relinquishing the top spot after two weeks. With 26.0 million, it passed the $300 million mark after a record 17 days, well on its way to end up in the $400 million region after its run.
Fourth was Ron Howard helmed Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe as a boxer, earns a lower than expected $18.6 million (with an $88 million budget).
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants finished the top five. The female driven drama earns a $10.3 million opening.

Basically, this movie is about 3 stories taking place in Sin City, and bear no real connection with each other. Strange at first, the stories slowly unfold, and with the writer co-directing, you have a distinct type of dialogue and narrative to get used to. Shot totally in green/blue screen, luckily, this time it’s not as distracting as it was in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Then you have to monochrome filming style, which means no rich textured scenes, but lends well to focus on particular things. The characters also don’t have enough screen time to fully develop, so only the raw features are to be expected (also very apparent to the acting style, with the slight overacting always present). This means the whole movie, while having a weird film noir feeling to it, has only a bit of everything (humor, screen magic, drama). It’s certainly not spectacular enough to buy the DVD (which will be far longer than the current 2 hours) or start a franchise (what am I saying ? Part 2 and 3 are scheduled for 2007 and 2008).7½.

No surprise again, a tale from a galaxy far far away ends up at the top spot again, still running at hyperspace speed. With $70.8 million, SWIII stands at a pretty stellar $271.2 million after 12 days.
Second was the premiere of Madagascar, the first 3D animated comedy since Dreamworks went public. Opening at $61 million, I’d say, you’d better bought some stock. Third was another opener, Adam Sandler starrer The Longest Yard, with $60 million.
Left-overs finish the top 5, with Monster-in-Law ($11.1 million) at four, followed by Kicking & Screaming ($6.6 million).

Having complete faith in J.J. Abrams’ ability to steer this new series from a mysterious island to a successful show (which will increase his star power in Hollywood, with Mission Impossible III and possibly another one or two new TV shows coming up) was no mistake. We get to see backstories on almost every character in flashbacks intwined in the current storyline. Revealing the past while the mystery unfolds in the present works pretty well. Then you have the influence of mystery on the characters, and how everyone gives another meaning to it. It’s almost formulaic, but it never gets boring. With almost every episode having a cliffhanger, they just topped it at the season finale with just a flick of the fingers.
J.J. Abrams has the gift to make the unbelievable very believable (as the down to earth yet myth dripping Alias has proven already), so I don’t mind clearing the Wednesday night (as both shows are currently scheduled) for the next ten years.

Season openers and finales tend to bring the best out of this series, as it happened time and again. For this season, even more so. It’s only the opener and finale that stick out out this episodic season. Continuing a bit on an intriguing myth, the story arc dropped to a bare minimum. Bringing a new Teague/Luthor rivalry this season seemed a good move, but the repeating death threats from here to there and back again made it a bit laughable at the end. On a personal level, again, it gained only a little this year. Needless to say, the red warning flag for repetition alert went up quite a few times, making this season one of the lower points of the four year run. The finale, again, brought some new mystery to the story, so let’s hope the series will regain its strength in season 5.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !). Only rate the latest picture, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 1276 out of 414 votes > Average is: 3.082

Who knew ? “Mens erger je niet” changed its name to “Plaag me niet”.

New medical drama’s performed very well this year, ratings-wise (NBC’s Medical Investigation, Fox’s House), unlike a few years ago (in 2002 ABC’s MD’s and CBS’ Presidio Med flunked the first year). For me though, this is the only one that touched ground. Acting was pretty solid, and stories seem to develop at a reasonable pace, so I’ll be there when the second series starts (strange scheduling abilities at ABC made 4 episode from this season carry over to the next, making season 2 clocking in at 26 eps, and the series it replaced, Boston Legal, had the same treatment, making season 2 a 27 episode run.)

With the end of the series (as in, too expensive ($2 million per ep, highest ever for a “reality” show) for the current ratings to try it again for another season), it proved interesting and testosterone buffed enough to last till the end ($1 million fight after eliminating 14 fighters during its run). Mark Burnett’s reality TV producing skills are a given, and the boxing takes care of the rest. It’s not the creme de la creme of entertainment (it was moderately entertaining), but I might even watch a second season if there was one.

Bruce Willis’ carreer has been pretty much non-stop since the early nineties, so he can be forgiven for a few missteps along the way. This movie belongs to this category, especially since he’s headlining it almost all by himself. The movie starts out like it’s gonna be some kind of The Negotiator, but soon falls into a mix of convenient mishaps, predictable action sequences and there are even horror elements . The lack of character depth means you’ll have to put up with some heave over-acting here and there, but there are some surprises and tense moments to be found. With Star Wars still running, I’d say it’s an easy choice to just skip this one and see Star Wars, even if it’s for the third time already.6.

And so ends the fourth day in Jack’s life. Any sane man would have a half bald grey scalp and an ulcer the size of a football, but Jack still manages to live his one dutiful as ever. As the real time show has proven in the past, the twists and turns keep coming the full day, with nailbiting and chairglue all the way to the end. As Fox renewed the show for 2 extra season, I’ll say, Jack, for God’s sake, here’s a cup of coffee, it’s on me.